Favorite Game

Favorite Movie

Favorite Book

Currently Watching

Currently Playing

Currently Reading

I've gotten annoyed with managing my digital movie and tv series collection. It didn't bother me before because Netflix had pretty much everything. I'd never have to search for stuff on my hard drives or old dvd-rs because it would all be on Netflix. Now that Netflix has dropped about 50% of their content over the last couple years and will lose significantly more once all of Disney's properties are removed next year I've realized all my old dvds, blu rays and digital movies are all getting more use again. This is were plex comes in.
I setup plex on my main pc, moved a bunch of movies and tv series into some folders and set plex to use those folders. This program auto grabbed all meta data for the content, images, etc and is basically a Netflix clone. I was shocked by how efficient this is. I installed the plex client app on my ps3, ps4 and roku stick and as long as my pc with the plex server is running I can now stream all my content to every tv in the house. It even keeps track of where i left off in a movie and i can resume it on a different device if I want.
So I bought a 4tb hard drive yesterday and I'm going all in on this. I'm going to rip a bunch of my dvds and blu rays (the ones that don't have a digital copy) into mkv files and throw them on that hard drive for my plex. I'll try putting my old anime avi files (with hard coded subs from back in the old download days) in there to to see if plex can play those too. Plex will even organise by genre to so it all works good. And plex is free.
I was thinking about buying a nvidia shield because it can be used as a plex media server instead of just a client like the PlayStation/roku apps but it looks like it has some limitations with file types and my old anime files would definitely not play on it unless i converted every file thru some program called handbrake. I'll look into that some more.
I figured I'd share this in case anyone else was getting annoyed with Netflix and every company making their own Netflix clones. Instead of paying every company a piece of the pie it'll be cheaper in the long run to just make my own Netflix with the content i already own that is already tailored to my preferances. And plex can stream outside of your home in 720p if you go on a road trip. I doubt I'll ever use that feature tho, especially with upload rates being shit with spectrum.
Go to https://www.plex.tv to get the media server and the PlayStation/xbox store/roku/android to download the plex app. I know this topic seems like am advertisement but they're paying me nothing and it's all free downloads anyway. it just works and works great.

Hell yes. Daredevil season 2 was the entire Punisher origin story and in that season netflix pulled off some of the most realistic gun fights I've seen in any movie / tv series. Sure movies have gun fights all the time, but for assault weapons, shotguns, etc. its all special effects and nothing physical. In daredevil season 2 it felt like they were literally shooting guns everywhere and each individual bullet hole was shown being created in the background as it happened. As long as the punisher series has that much detail this will be amazing. It better have that much detail because netflix needs another strong marvel series. Iron Fist and Defenders were horrible compared to their predecessors.

It looks good to me, except for Iron Fist. Even in this trailer he has to say "I'm Iron Fist". I hope the guy that wrote Iron Fist isn't part of this production, because if he is, I'll expect to hear Iron Fist say his own name again 100 more times in the show.

This came out on netflix last week and I finished it up about a week ago. Its the fourth series in the Marvel/Netflix deal leading up to the fifth series called "Defenders" that will have Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in it. Those first three series were highly enjoyable and well made. I don't think I made a topic for each one but perhaps I will. The special effects, characters, plot and abilities of the heroes and villains in each of those series were well thought out and executed.. But then we have Iron Fist. Honestly this show was a huge let down. From what I remember in the comics and cartoons, Iron Fist was a smart ass guy with a sense of humor.. and is supposed to be the best fung fu master on the planet worthy of the power of the Iron Fist. In this series Danny Rand aka Iron Fist is a complete mess. He was raised by monks in a monastery for 15 years and instead of becoming an amazing kung fu master in full control of his body and mind he is a psychological mess with constant PTSD issues. wtf. The actor also appears to have done all his own stunt work which includes yellow belt kung fu lessons and no full length leg extensions on kicks. wtf.
I was expecting some Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee action considering they are/were kung fu legends in my mind. Instead of amazing fight choreography like I'd see in either of their movies, we get the equivilant of a guy looking homeless half the movie getting into random fights with minimal kicking. Its not just the fights that are bad, but the acting and characters are worse. They repeat everything. I heard "I"m the Iron Fist" at least 5 times per episode.. I'm not kidding. Every character counterdicts themselves. One episode they'll talk about honor, the next they're doing illegal activities. One minute Danny Rand wants to get control of his father's company, the next he completely abandons it. One episode a character is emotionally torn about Danny, the next episode they betray him.. again.. and again, like a game of tennis. I don't know who was in charge of this show but it was horrible. The worst part of the entire series was the emphasis on the multi million dollar corporation he somehow still had legal rights to after being declared dead over 15 years ago. At least half the series was focused on board rooms and the fate the company that overall had no significant impact on the actual series. Imagine a Batman movie where half the movie was Bruce Wayne and, alot of screen time on his associates, making business decisions about Wayne Enterprises. Who needs action and kung fu in an action based kung fu series when we can instead sit here and watch people squabble about the price of the drugs they're manufacturing and whose in control of the company. Ehhhhh. Daredevil had a bit too much courtroom drama with the lawyer aspect of it, but in the end it kind of worked since it was a build of Punisher having his own series. In Iron Fist, I suppose this boardroom crap and the lack of a single major enemy throughout the series for Iron Fist to fight against was more of a build up to Defenders than a standalone series.

Stranger Things debuted on Netflix yesterday. Me and Lady marathoned this 8 episode series last night. Wow. I normally hate things with kids in it but this was the best tv series I have seen this year. Its based in the 80s so theres no cell phones and things look a little dated, including the 80s music and clothing, but it works out great. After watching this I can tell it must have been highly inspired by Silent Hill, Stephen King and Dean Koontz's novel Door to December. If you like any of those things you will like this series. This was also made with movie quality production. Netflix needs to make more series like this. We could not stop watching it once we started. The trailer gives away a just a couple scenes but none of the major stuff, but skip the trailer it if you're planning on watching it soon to avoid any spoilers.

I read that this was supposed to be an actual theatrically released movie but something went wrong and it became a Netflix property. The quality of the special effects are top notch and you can tell it was made with a decent budget. I enjoyed it. The military action was great and Call of Duty will probably rip off part of this for their next game.

I have noticed the selection isn't nearly what it used to be. Back in the day I'd search for a movie and 80% of the time it was on netflix. Now I don't even use the search feature because the last 20 movies I've searched for are never on there. Netflix used to be this great replacement to blockbuster with every movie made available, but now it looks like all the content rights holders and networks are pulling their properties off and either selling the rights to other streaming services like Amazon Prime or Hulu or they're making their own streaming service like CBS all access. I'm tempted to cut my cable and switch to streaming only services but I still haven't found a combo of apps or services that will give me the channel selection or content I fully want. I already have amazon prime and netflix. But to replace cable I figure if I go with Sling blue with HBO and starz, hulu, hbo go (part of my cable package now), and over the air HD antenna I'd have the majority of the channels I watch with cable except for science channel. I'd probably save about $30 a month over my current cable plan. Anyone use Sling?
Also, with the companies pulling their content from netflix and making their own streaming services, maybe in the near future cable will actually be a good deal again compared to being nickel and dimed by all the different apps? I do like seeing different streaming services offering competition like Sling and PlayStation VUE, but I still feel on the fence about actually cutting off my cable for streaming only.
http://gizmodo.com/netflix-catalog-now-with-50-fewer-movies-and-tv-1787333522

I finished Daredevil season 2 on netflix yesterday and I have some mixed feelings about it. Overall I enjoyed it and I'll watch a season 3, but I'd rather watch a dedicated Punisher series instead. Daredevil is that typical superhero that doesn't want to kill anyone and always interrupts everyone else's sense of justice to impose his own choices onto them and thats basically what got me annoyed more than anything with Daredevil. Hes also supposed to be a catholic (which isn't a major plot line at all), and it feels like thats his motivation to impose his sense of morality onto others. eh.
But with as dull as Daredevil's character is with whats right and wrong in crime fighting, the Punisher makes up for it. Season 2 was basically an origin story for the Punisher and I hope he gets his own spin off series. He was incredibly brutal. In his endless fights, he gets his face bashed enough times that its hard to tell hes the same guy that played Shane from TWD. But he did such a good job at his character that I'll easily remember him more as Punisher now than Shane. Elektra was also a good character except for some plot twists that seemed very rushed at the end of the season.
The downside to season 2 was all the courtroom / lawyer crap. They dedicated about 1/3 of the season to a trial. Sure, Daredevil is a lawyer but I don't want to see his day job, even if it does slightly tie into the the overall plot. They could have cut that trial down to 1 episode and had more action instead of treating it like a main plot with Daredevil doing some random fighting as a side mission in those eps. Boring. Clark Kent is a reporter and Peter Parker is a photographer but I'll be damned if I ever had to sit through 4 episodes worth of Clark Kent reporting on an oil spill or interviewing politicians. Or watching Peter Parker set up that perfect panoramic shot for an art magazine commission. wtf. I'm watching a superhero show to see ass kicking. Just like I wouldn't watch Tony Stark have a board meeting for 1/3 of an Iron Man movie, I don't want to see a court drama in Daredevil. Also, that character Karen Page was incredibly annoying. Shes all happy go lucky, and completely ignorant. Its like the director wanted to jam her into every scene they possibly could regardless of plausibility, just to get her in there to remind you that the things the punisher was doing was actually bad. How she lived thru so many different scenarios makes her unbelievable as a character. She was the equivilant of the "good angel / devil" on the shoulder and all I'll remember her for is crying all the time or looking smug. She'd have been a much better side character with less screen time. x_x
Even with its shortcomings, I enjoyed the series.
One last thing, there was one scene where the Punisher shoots this guy in the face with a shotgun and holy crap that looked believable. jebus.. made me shocked for a second. The guy's head should have blown out in the back, but still. This season had the most believable gun / bullet physics I've seen in any show. It literally looked like bullets were hitting walls and swiss cheesing people. If someone was getting shot at, you'd see the bullet holes in the walls and not just see some spark where a bullet hit metal. Their special effects ppl did a great job with that.

I'm very pleased this series will finally be on Netflix so I can watch it from the beginning. I know it starts off as more of a kid friendly show, but I've seen some episodes from season 5 and this is definitely a series I want to watch.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be on Netflix on March 7, 2014.

I'm very pleased this series will finally be on Netflix so I can watch it from the beginning. I know it starts off as more of a kid friendly show, but I've seen some episodes from season 5 and this is definitely a series I want to watch.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be on Netflix on March 7, 2014.
Click here to view the article

Over the past week Netflix has been struggling to give me half assed quality on my PS3. I thought it was a netflix issue. I checked my speedtest.net and everything seems fine. I changed my settings in Netflix to max data streaming.. I tried netflix on my laptop.. same thing.. SD. I could not get netflix to stream HD. Then I remembered I left the PS4 in standby mode last saturday so it could finish downloading that "Don't Starve" game. I turned on the PS4, it found a new update for BF4.. and now I guess I need to check my standby mode settings because I thought the PS4 would have downloaded that in the background already in standby. Anyway, I turned the PS4 completely off and checked my laptop again.. Netflix now streams in HD again. wtf. Maybe the PS4 is downloading in small increments while in standby? Maybe its communicating over my WIFI in a way that it is interfering with the packets over my WIFI? I do not know. All I do know is that if my PS4 is in standby, my Netflix over wifi looses all HD.

World Wrestling Entertainment has announced their TV network that will be the Netflix of Pro Wrestling and much more. Not only will the network offer 30 years of back catalog of your childhood memories... WWF, WCW, and ECW included, but will also offer every current PPV live for $10 a month with a 6 month commitment. Whether you want to see Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat at Wrestlemania III, or the Untertaker's unbeaten streak continue at last years Wrestlemania it will all be there at the grasp of your fingertips.
While you may scratch you head at the importance of this announcement, Gizmodo explains further in the link below how its a great move, even if you have zero interest in pro wrestling. WWE Network is being hailed as a major stepping stone in the future of television.
http://gizmodo.com/wwe-figured-out-the-future-of-tv-last-night-1498110969

World Wrestling Entertainment has announced their TV network that will be the Netflix of Pro Wrestling and much more. Not only will the network offer 30 years of back catalog of your childhood memories... WWF, WCW, and ECW included, but will also offer every current PPV live for $10 a month with a 6 month commitment. Whether you want to see Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat at Wrestlemania III, or the Untertaker's unbeaten streak continue at last years Wrestlemania it will all be there at the grasp of your fingertips.
While you may scratch you head at the importance of this announcement, Gizmodo explains further in the link below how its a great move, even if you have zero interest in pro wrestling. WWE Network is being hailed as a major stepping stone in the future of television.
http://gizmodo.com/w...ight-1498110969
Click here to view the article

Has anyone watched this yet? I was hesitant to watch it because the initial trailer looked like teenagers and twilight crap.. but no.. quite a bit different. Watch this trailer instead:
It was a good series. Aside from a few episodes involving the high school, this entire series is all about death, drugs, sex, mystery and the supernatural. Its not the best series I've ever seen of course, but being only 13 episodes its a quick watch. Also, I was surprised by the content.. some scenes had breasts, sex, lesbian love... surprising for me to see that on netflix, especially seeing as this is a show made by Netflix themselves.

The US Court of Appeals has ruled that Netflix receives an unfair advantage from the US Postal service through preferential treatment and specially designated containers. Oddly enough, despite the money struggles the USPS has faced over the years, the high volume of mail Netflix traffics through the postal system is provided free of charge to the company.
The ruling stems form a multi-year battle lead by Gamefly, which claims it has had to spend millions in shipping adjustments because it is not provided with the same treatment that Netflix has been privileged to.
When Joystiq contacted Gamefly for comment, they responded stating:
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/11/court-rules-against-netflix-in-gamefly-postal-dispute/
Reuters story:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/11/us-usa-netflix-idUKBRE90A0R820130111

The US Court of Appeals has ruled that Netflix receives an unfair advantage from the US Postal service through preferential treatment and specially designated containers. Oddly enough, despite the money struggles the USPS has faced over the years, the high volume of mail Netflix traffics through the postal system is provided free of charge to the company.
The ruling stems form a multi-year battle lead by Gamefly, which claims it has had to spend millions in shipping adjustments because it is not provided with the same treatment that Netflix has been privileged to.
When Joystiq contacted Gamefly for comment, they responded stating:
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/11/court-rules-against-netflix-in-gamefly-postal-dispute/
Reuters story:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/11/us-usa-netflix-idUKBRE90A0R820130111
Click here to view the article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053039/Netflix-loses-800-000-US-subscribers-single-quarter.html
Ouch. So they raised rates so they could become more profitable.. Obviously that worked out great for netflix. They have idiots running that company.

http://www.gamesradar.com/netflix-adding-video-games-rentals-rebranding-mail-service-qwikster/
What do you think of netflix's latest move of splitting everything apart? We don't use the dvd part of the service so it won't affect us, but I could see it as annoying to have to login to separate sites to do what you could normally do on just one.

We're still in our one month free trial and I'm looking for some different series and movies and sometimes it seems like its a bit of a pain to find something thats decent. We've been filling out the ratings and that is helping.. but then I came across this little link:
http://www.geekologie.com/2011/05/i-smell-a-marathon-what-scifi-series-sho.php
maybe it will help others get a start as well.
btw, if you have netflix what are the three most recent series/movies you've watched?